Auto Sorting
Downloads that file themselves
Anything that hits your Downloads folder — a pack, a YouTube rip, a Splice one-shot, a stray .wav from a forum — is read, scored, and moved into the folder it belongs in.
Kick_Warehouse_Am_128.wav scored 0.96 and was filed in Drums › Kicks.
How it works
Every download lands in the right folder, with the score that put it there.
- Step 01
A file arrives
Prod Crate watches Downloads and the Prod Crate Inbox. Zips are expanded, duplicates of files you already own are flagged, and everything else is queued for a read. Nothing moves yet.
Downloads › Kick_Warehouse_Am_128.wav620 KB · from a sample packqueued - Step 02
It gets read, then scored
The filename is parsed for the words producers actually use, and the audio is analysed for key, tempo and instrument. The two are combined into one confidence score between 0 and 1.
filename: kick · Am · 128audio: percussive, 127.9 BPM, A minorconfidence 0.96 - Step 03
Above 0.8 it files, below it waits
Score above 0.8 and the file moves into your folder structure and you get a notification with a Show in Finder link. Between 0.5 and 0.8 it goes to Review with its best guess attached. Below 0.5 it stays in the Inbox.
0.96 → Drums › Kicks · Auto0.71 → Review · suggested Loops0.34 → Inbox · untouched
What you get
Your folders, not ours
Sorting fills the structure you already have. Point it at Drums/Kicks or at Packs/2026/Techno and it uses that. Switch the taxonomy to key, tempo or pack and everything re-files.
A number, not a black box
Every filed sample carries the score that moved it and the evidence behind it. Sort a folder by confidence to see the guesses worth checking, and correct any one of them in place.
Unsure means Review, never the wrong folder
Below 0.8 nothing is filed silently. It lands in Review with its best guess, so the failure mode is a short queue to clear, not a sample you will never find again.
It learns your corrections
Move a file out of Review into the folder you wanted and that correction is applied to the rest of the pack, and weighted into future scores for files that look like it.
Why it works
Two signals, read separately, then combined. The first is the filename: producers and pack vendors encode a lot into it — instrument words, key spellings from Am to A_min to Amin, tempo as 128 or 128bpm or _128_. Parsing it costs nothing and is right most of the time, which is exactly why it is not enough on its own. Plenty of files are called loop_final_v2.wav.
The second is the audio. Prod Crate runs the file through onset, pitch-class and spectral analysis to detect tempo, key and which family of instrument it sounds like: kick, snare, hat, bass, chord, lead, pad, vocal, texture. That is slower than reading a name, but it is the only signal that works on a file with no useful name at all, and it is what catches a pack labelled 140 that was rendered at 70.
The two are combined into a single confidence score, and the score decides what happens. Above 0.8 the file is moved and you are told where. Between 0.5 and 0.8 it goes to Review with its best guess attached. Below 0.5 it stays in the Inbox untouched. The thresholds are the whole point: a sorter that is confidently wrong is worse than no sorter, because you stop being able to find things by hand.
Problems it prevents
- BeforeFour copies of the same kick sit in four different packs.
- With Prod CrateDuplicates are detected on the way in, one copy is kept and the rest are linked to it.
- BeforeA pack unzips into 900 files across a folder tree that is nothing like yours.
- With Prod CrateEvery file is scored and placed in your tree; the pack name travels with it as a tag.
- BeforeYou are on a borrowed machine and drag a pack into the browser; it lands in a heap.
- With Prod CrateThe web app files a drop the same way the Mac files a download: scored, placed, tagged with the pack name.
- BeforeA YouTube rip called audio.wav is lost within the week.
- With Prod CrateAudio analysis names it by what it is, files it, and leaves the original name in Get Info.
“We pull about 300 files a week from Splice and YouTube. Before Prod Crate, roughly none of them got filed. Now four or five a week land in Review and I clear them with coffee on Monday.”
The rest of Prod Crate
Auto Sorting questions
01What happens when it isn't sure?
Scores between 0.5 and 0.8 go to a Review folder with the suggested destination attached, and below 0.5 the file stays in the Inbox untouched. Nothing is filed on a guess it cannot defend, because a file in the wrong folder is harder to find than a file you never moved.
02Can I change the folder structure it sorts into?
Yes. Sorting fills whatever tree you point it at, and the built-in taxonomies are instrument, key, tempo and pack. Switching taxonomy re-files what is already there rather than making a second copy.
03How accurate is key and BPM detection?
Tempo is reliable on loops with a clear pulse and unreliable on one-shots and free-time recordings, which is why a one-shot is never filed on tempo alone. Key detection is strongest on tonal material — chords, bass, leads — and is deliberately not attempted on drums.
04Does it move my existing library?
Only if you ask it to. Sorting applies to new arrivals by default. You can run it over an existing folder as a one-off, and that run is previewed and reversible for 30 days from the Recycle Bin.
05What about files that aren't audio?
Project files, presets, artwork and PDFs are sorted on filename and extension only, into the folders you set for them. They are never run through audio analysis and never scored on key or tempo.
06Does sorting work in the web app too?
Yes. Drop a file or a whole pack onto the web app and it goes through the same read, score and file steps as a download on the Mac. Anything under 0.8 lands in Review there as well, so a borrowed machine at a gig never leaves a mess behind.
07Can I turn it off?
Yes, globally or per folder. With sorting off, downloads still appear in the Inbox with their detected key, tempo and instrument attached, so search still works and you file by hand.